First lady Laura Bush speaks at the 'George Washington's Return to School' ceremony at Washington Mill Elementary School Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008 near Mt. Vernon, Va. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Posted on 01/15/2008 4:05:34 PM PST by NormsRevenge
CAIRO, Egypt - It's been a chilly welcome for America's president: The Mideast, known for blazing sun and scorching winds, has been hit with an uncharacteristic wave of heavy rain, frigid gales — and even a smattering of snow.
If President Bush thought he would escape Washington's winter weather when he jetted to this region for eight days, he should have stayed home. It was nearly the same temperature in Washington, where it briefly snowed on Tuesday, as it was in Saudi Arabia — about 40 degrees.
The weather affected Bush's trip from the get-go. During his first stop in Israel, morning fog grounded his helicopter, forcing him to take a motorcade to the West Bank from Jerusalem. His plane touched down in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday amid heavy rains. In the Saudi Arabia capital of Riyadh on Monday and Tuesday, the president was greeted by overcast skies and temperatures hovering around freezing.
The unusually bleak weather has hit other parts of the region even if Bush hasn't. Iran witnessed the worst snow storms in a decade this month, leaving more than 20 people dead. In Lebanon, the Meteorology Department called its winter cold "the most severe in decades," with temperatures dipping below zero in some coastal areas. It even snowed in Baghdad last week for the first time in memory.
Pierre Eckert, of the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology in Switzerland, blamed an unusual high pressure zone over the lower parts of Scandinavia. It is sucking up the cold air from that region and blowing it to the Mideast.
Not everywhere on Bush's itinerary has been so dreary. He spent an evening enjoying a lavish picnic under the stars in the Emirates, and the sun is expected to greet him Wednesday when he sweeps into Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik.
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Those chilly temperatures probably had Bush especially grateful for one of his gifts from the Saudis: the full-length, fur-lined robe he wore to dinner at King Abdullah's ranch Tuesday night.
Bush arrived for the meal, held in an opulent building with a tent-like roof on the property in the desert outside Riyadh, wearing the black garment called a farw, with bluish-silver trim and lined with dark fur. Underneath, he had on a sweater vest over his open-collared dress shirt, for further protection against the cold. His staff had robes, too.
The president was escorted into the wood-paneled, marble-columned hall by the king's son and preceded by two men carrying silver incense holders that left a trail of pungent smoke. And the topic of conversation? Not Mideast peace, but the temperatures.
"It's really cold outside," said the king said, speaking through a translator. "Yes it is cold," replied Bush, with the robe laid beneath him.
Bush was spending the night at the farm, a weekend retreat for Abdullah, and having breakfast with the king before leaving Wednesday for Egypt.
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Speaking of that ranch, hundreds of acres of oasis in the desert, 260 Arabian and thoroughbred stallions are kept there in top form, with air-conditioned stables and even aqua therapy.
The president, sipping tea, got a look at a handful of Abdullah's favorites from a glass-enclosed viewing room. A trainer paraded sleek horses around a showing ring. One of them was Alysheba, winner of the 1987 Kentucky Derby and Preakness and now, at 24, a retired stud.
Bush posed with stable staff afterward.
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Earlier in the day, Bush came awfully close to performing a traditional sword dance with one of the princes of the royal family.
Bush was treated to an arrival ceremony at Riyadh's al-Murabba Palace and The National Museum that featured the dance. Before his tour, with drums beating and performers chanting, Bush held a sword over his shoulder and swayed arm-in-arm to the music with his host, Prince Salman, King Abdullah's brother.
Sheepishly grinning, Bush seemed to get into the dancing, in a presidentially reserved sort of way.
While at the facility, Bush stopped in a gallery describing the Prophet Muhammad's life. He paused to look at a 136-year-old handwritten Quran that was opened to a page filled with gold and turquoise decorative script.
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It is, of course..
Bush's fault.
-10 is cold. It doesn’t get to really cold until -30, and not to really, really cold until -60.
(wait for it)...
(you know they want to say it)...
(if they can't say it, they will imply it)...
Global Warming!!!
It was a cold day in hell?
no global warming?
any word about Mrs Bush? is she on the trip? i have seen no mention of her being with him. the last time she didn’t accompany him on a major trip she was having serious pinched nerve problems, i believe.
First lady Laura Bush speaks at the 'George Washington's Return to School' ceremony at Washington Mill Elementary School Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008 near Mt. Vernon, Va. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
glow-bull warming.
Record breaking cold and snow is circling the globe. Who knew when the sun went quite we would freeze. So when the sun turns back on, I assume it’s man that is warming the planet.
Of course it is. But the headline should read “Bush Solves Global Warming”.
I’m surprised they didn’t mention what President Bush said when viewing the now-retired trophy racing horse, now a “stud” in his fancy stable: “Well Abdhul - that’s gonna’ be me this time next year.” ;)
Females not allowed except in burkhas. Laura didn*t want to be made a fool again.
Didn't you get the memo? These days the proper term is "Climate Change." This way, any odd weather phenomenon can be attributed congress' failure to ratify Kyoto.
Usually the freak cold weather is following Al Gore.
“Down in Texas, we call this a letter opener.”
Sounds like hell is freezing over.
My memo must have been in the massive pile-up on I-4 a few days ago. Of course that fog was due to global.... err, I mean, "Climate Change".
Damn Global Warning!!
thxs - glad to know she’s okay.
Bush is such a sport.....all these weird things that ARABS do, and you could tell he really didn’t want to be doing them. I even felt sorry for Maddy ALbright when they had her doing weird things....and Colin Powell dancing...YUK.
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